On most flat maps of the world in common use, Greenland looks as large as South America (or larger), Canada looks even larger, the Democratic Republic of Congo looks much smaller than Greenland, and Sweden looks about the same size as Congo. The actual sizes are below. As you can see, South America is almost twice the size of Canada and over eight times the size of Greenland. The Democratic Republic of Congo is somewhat larger than Greenland and over five times the size of Sweden.

6,890,000 square miles South America

3,851,788 square miles Canada

905,563 square miles Congo, Democratic Republic of

836,109 square miles Greenland

173,729 square miles Sweden

The point of this quiz is that your perception of what is happening in your world affects how you live, how you make decisions, and how you relate to decisions made by other people. For example, when people tell us that Congo is overcrowded and poor, if we know the area, the population, and the resources of Congo, we know that those people are lying to us. Congo is not overcrowded and poor; it is underpopulated and being robbed. The same people who tell us these lies are telling us about our life here in the United States, are running the justice system which is criminal, are bringing into our homes that human zoo known as television. Yes, I know I know, you want to celebrate and be happy. And you will be — as long as the people who do not hesitate to exterminate entire populations continue to find you useful and entertaining.

Recently, a man who may have been depressed and suicidal co-piloted a passenger plane into a mountain, killing the 150 people aboard. Big news. Great outcry. Yada yada. Between 1965 and 1975, the United States exterminated over four million people in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. That’s over 1,000 people every day. Everyone who lives here shares in the responsibility for what “our” government is doing. If it is not actually our government, then we have a responsibility to do something about it. We are on an airplane being flown into the side of a mountain. Wake up. Get into the damn cockpit and pull the plane up. Or go down with it. Your choice.